John charles



(ModeL) J. CHARLES.

Wagon Jack.

7 Patented June 29,1880.

ATTORNEYS.

WITNESSES ie-k,

zazaz/ NPETERS. FHDTO UTHOGRAPHER WASQINGTDN. D. G,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE@ JOHN CHARLES OF CLEAR SPRING, MARYLAND,ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF OF HIS RIGHT TO LEWIS CHARLES, OF SAME PLACE.

WAGON-JAG K.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 229,380, dated June 29,1880.

Application filed May 15,1880. (Model) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN CHARLES, of Clear Spring, in the county ofWashington and State ofMaryland, haveinvented anew and ImprovedWagon-Jack and I do hereby. declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description of the same, reference being had to theaccompanyin g drawings, forming part of this specification, in which-Figure l is a side elevation with the leverfork in section. Fig. 2 is asimilar fragmental view, showing one position of the device when raisingthe lift-bar; Fig. 3, a similar view, showing one position of the devicewhen lowering the lift-bar. Fig. 4 is an edge view.

Myinvention relates to certain improvements in that class of wagon-jacksin which a lever carrying two pawls or griping-jaws is combined withalifting-har having a double set of ratchetteeth, whereby theoscillation of the lever is made to cause the travel of the lift-barover the main section, to which the lever is pivoted.

My improvement consists in pivoting the pawl-j aws to thele'verin suchrelation to springs on the main bar that the lifting-bar may be made totravel either up or down without change in the adj ustment by simplychanging the range of oscillation of the lever, as hereinafter fullydescribed.

In the drawings, A represents the main bar or section of the jack, whichis provided with a foot, or, and is -.slotted longitudinally, so astoform two branches. Between these branches the lift-bar B slides, thesaid lift-bar being formed with longitudinal grooves on'its oppositesides, which receive the adjacent edges of the two branches of the mainbar, which act i as guides. This lift-bar B is formed upon its oppositeedges with ratchet-teeth b, pointing downwardly. I

Near the top of the main bar A is fulcrumed, at c, the lever 0,extending out transversely from the jack, and having forked brancheswhich extend upon opposite sides of the bars. To this lever, on oppositesides of the ratchetbar, are pivoted the pawl-j aws D D, which arefulcrnmed upon pins dd extending from one branch to the other of thefork in the lever. Upon one side these jaws have, near their fulcra, twobearing-faces each. Thus the jawD has a bearing, 6, above its fulcrum,and another,

6, below it, and the jaw D has also a bearin g,

6 above its fulcrum, and another, 0 belowit. Fixed to the bar A are twosprings, E E, whose upper ends bear against the jaws to give them apeculiar action, as follows. Thus when the lever is in a horizontalposition the ends of the springs are nearly opposite the fulcra of thejaws, and by a slight depression of lever the jaws are sufficientlyopened to allow the ratchetbar to be moved freely up or down. Now,whenever the lever is oscillated above a horizontal line, as over therange 00 w, the ratchet-bar is moved up but when oscillated below thehorizontal line, as over the range y y, the ratchet-bar is lowered. Thisis explained as follows: The spring E has a single bearingface, which,when the lever is horizontal rests nearly opposite the fulcrum on thatside, while the other spring, E, has two bearing-faces, ff, which, whenthe lever is horizontal, rest nearly an equal distance upon oppositesides of the fulcrum on that side, and when in such positions the jaws Dare, as in Fig. 1, not pressed by the springs against the ratchet- 7 baron either side, and hence the said ratchet-bar can be moved freely up ordown to adjust it to the vehicle or other object to be raised. Now, whenthe ratchet-bar is to be raised the lever is oscillated over the range00 8o 00, as in Fig. 2, above the horizontal position, and during thisoscillation the end of the spring E presses upon bearing 6 on that side,so as to hold the jaw engaged with the ratchet-teeth. On the oppositeside the bearin gf of the spring E presses upon the bearing 0 of the jawD to hold jaw D engaged with the ratchet-teeth on that side, so thatwhen the lever is oscillated above the horizontal or through the range mx the lift-bar is raised by the alternate action of 0 thejaws.

For lowering the ratchet-bar the lever is oscillated below thehorizontal line over the range 3 y, as in Fig. 3, and in this movementthe springs bear as follows: The end of spring E moves from the fulcrumof jaw D to the bearing 0 above, pressing on the bearing eabove thefulcrum on the downward stroke, and just be-' fore the commencement ofthe upward stroke, to throw this jaw open and allow it to rise over theteeth, and resting upon bearing 0 at the end of the upstroke, and justbefore the downstroke, to allow the jaw to go in and catch the tooth tolower the weight on the lift-bar. On the opposite side the upperbearing, f, of the spring E presses on the lower bearing, 0 of the jawat the end of the upward stroke, t0

throw in the jaw preparatory to descending, and at the end of thedownstroke said bearin g f presses against the upper bearing, 0 to throwopen the jaw preparatory to rising to take a new hold. In other words,when raising the lift-barthe jaws alternately descend below a givenhorizontal line to get a lifting purchase, while in lowering thelift-bar they alternately rise above this horizontal line to get apurchase to lower said bar by. In passing from the position in Fig. 2,when raising the lift-bar, to position in Fig. 3, for lowering, it mightappear that the devices would occupy the position in Fig. 1 and allowthe lift-bar to fall. This is prevented by reason of the fact that theWeight on the lift-bar always holds one of the jaws engaged.

Having thus described my invention, what I. claim as new is- Thecombination of the main bar A, the double ratchet-bar B, the lever (J,carrying pawl-jaws D I), and the springs E E, arranged upon bar A andadapted to bear upon the jaws in the relation to their fulcra, asdescribed, whereby the ratchet-bar may be either raised or loweredwithout changing the adjustment and by simply varying the range ofoscillation of the lever, as described.

JOHN CHARLES.

Witnesses SAMUEL RoBIsoN, Lnwrs CHARLES.

